It is four whole days since the ambush.Although you lost some time there you have been travelling very quickly.Your defeat of Ruba bin Qstard’s brigands has endeared you to the
locals.They are very helpful – providing food and shelter as well
as guides and information.All this
is in exchange for the most trifling of hongo.

About mid afternoon a rather dishevelled but regal warrior
stops you in your path.He just
appeared out of the desert.It is
good fortune indeed that he seems friendly.He appears fearless and is accompanied by a few tribesmen.Some of the warriors are wounded.He
says that he isKing Ribi N’Aa,
ruler of a small but prosperous tribe, he has struggled steadfastly to resist
the encroachment of the Abythopian Empire, the Italians and the Mahdists and to
maintain his independence. Years of diplomacy failed to bring him into the
colonial camp.Now one of his own
countrymen Ruba bin Qstard reinforced by Snikabari slavers yesterday attackedRibi N’Aa's royal compound. Despite many heroic feats the defenders
were driven off, and Ribi N’Aa's people and regalia of kingship seized.

Ribi N’Aa himself managed to escape, along with a few of his
warriors but without their dependents. Without the regalia, however, he will
quickly lose sway over the people and he will be forced to come to terms with
the Empire or the Europeans.

The attackers spent the night in Ribi N’Aa's village,
looting their possessions, drinking their pembe, and eating their livestock.
Ribi N’Aa, on the other hand, spent the night gathering his warriors and
preparing to counterattack.

Then he met you.Binky
has agreed to help him out.Mainly,
one suspects, to revenge himself upon Ruba bin Qstard.